Comparison of Clinical Significance between Chest CT Scan and Bronchoscopy Prior to Bronchial Artery Angiography and Outcome of Embolization in Patients with Hemoptysis

Background: Emergency management in hemoptysis is bronchial artery angiography and embolization. This study was designed to investigate the accuracy of localization of bleeding site by simple roentgenogram, computed tomography(CT) and bronchoscopy prior to embolization and to evaluate the outcome of embolotherapy. Method: We retrospectively evaluated 50 patients performed bronchial artery embolization(BAE), admitted to tertiary university hospital due to hemoptysis. Results: The most common causes were pulmonary tuberculosis, old tuberculous related parenchymal damage, aspergilloma, and bronchiectasis. The success rate of BAE within one month was 90%; within 3 months was 88%; during follow up period of mean 11.6 months was 76%. The concordant rate of simple roentgenogram with angiographic outcome in terms of bleeding site is 70%; in chest CT 80%; in bronchoscopy 81%; in combined information of simple roentgenogram and CT 83%; in combined information of simple roentgenogram and bronchoscopy 78%. Conclusion: The diagnostic accuracy for the bleeding site was similar between chest CT and bronchoscopy, showing high diagnostic yield. The success rate of BAE was comparative to prior studies. Further study will be needed in a large scale in near future.